A national charity has called for "love and kindness" towards children in care following a backlash to plans for a residential home.

Become, a London-based charity supporting children in care and care leavers, has responded to concerns around plans to convert a property on Randale Drive in Unsworth into a care home for up to three young people.

The plans, which were submitted to the council last month, have prompted around 80 objections from residents citing concerns over anti-social behaviour and noise.

The application has been lodged on behalf of Upward Care Solutions, which operates more than 30 homes across the UK, including in Manchester.

It said the home "will promote a family residential home living setting while nurturing young people and ensuring their early life outcomes are achieved".

It added: “The house will have three staff members between the hours of 9-5 (Monday/Friday) and two members of staff 24/7.”

Become has provided advice and support to children and young people with experience of the care system for 30 years. It also aims to tackle the stigma and prejudice that looked-after children often face.

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Campaigns and engagement manager, Jo Petty, explained that the approval of children’s homes in areas such as Unsworth can allow more young people to remain close to communities, friends and families - an essential part of helping them grow and recover.

She added: “Care needs to be a place where children can recover from the trauma, which is often what they will have experienced before coming to the care of local authority.

“Care, whatever sort of home or foster care placement it is, should be a place where they can recover, it should be a place that is safe and stable and where they experience kindness and where they’re able to thrive into adulthood.

“It should be a place that is close to the things that are important to them. Too often we hear of children being moved far away from the people and places that they love and that has a really negative impact on children in care."

In 2021/2022 statistics show that Bury had 611 children in care and of those only 231 lived in the borough while 380 were moved away. 

Jo said: “There is a clear need for there to be enough homes or foster carers in places that they are needed and the cost of sending children out of borough is huge compared to the cost of keeping children in borough.”

Jo added that even after experiencing trauma children in care then face prejudice from the communities there are placed in while being looked after by the local authority.

She said: “They tell us that they face hostility from adults in the communities where they are sent to live. They are often judged as being troublesome or that there will be anti-social behaviour in the places that they live.”

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Children are placed in the care of the local authority for a number of reasons, including abuse and neglect.

Others find themselves in care if their parents die or have mental health issues that mean they are unable to look after them.

They could also be unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Jo added: “It’s important to say that it is never a child’s fault for the trauma or abuse they have suffered, they shouldn’t be judged on that, we should be ensuring as a society that children in care get the best possible childhood.

“Children in care are still children so its important to remind ourselves that these are children who need somewhere to live as well as love, kindness and stability.”